The In Vivo and Cellular Imaging Shared Resource comprises valuable and modern tools which are to be made available as routine services to Gene Therapy Center Members. Services include 3-dimensional cell and tissue digital imaging with multi-color fluorescence microscopy for both living and fixed samples and somatic cell microinjection. Based upon high resolution imaging techniques, including a DeltaVision deconvolution microscope and volumized 3-dimensional renderings of cells and tissues. These services have been crucial for individual lab projects and intra-programmatic research projects in this new Gen Therapy Center and will take advantage of our previous experience with these approaches. In this service, animal tissues infected with viral dimensional tissue imaging with immunofluorescence staining. The service will be able to provide imaging analysis of the potential host's immunological response to the virus in these tissues to help evaluate safety. Cells in culture infected with viral agents can be imaged as live cells undergoing changes or as fixed samples stained with immunofluorescent reagents for 3-dimensional structural and functional analysis. Several investigators in the Gene Therapy Center have already made use of the facility in which living and fixed cells have been imaged following infection with virus vectors. As research goals and efforts within our Center address the molecular and cellular functions and intracellular localization of genes and viruses to be used in gene therapy and their safety, this resource promises to provide cost-effective support for these cellular, tissue and animal-based studies. Resource personnel will interface with program investigators to enable access to the histology microscopy and image analysis resources available at UCSD. By examining both animal tissues and cellular effects, this resource will facilitate an understanding of both the biological activities of the viruses and potential safety features in animal tissues. By use of this resource to image the entry and fate of viral particles and proteins in cells and animal models, detailed information regarding the mechanism of action of these viruses will be possible.